Sermons, ramblings, and maybe an occasional rant from a Lutheran subject of Jesus Christ.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Sermon -- 6th Sunday after Trinity (July 27, 2014)

MATTHEW 5:17-26

JESUS DOES WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU.

In
the name + of Jesus.

Earlier, we offered the prayer of the day which said, “God of all power and might, you are the
giver of all that is good.” God is
not only the giver of all that is good, God gives only good things. So when you hear the Commandments, you should
realize that they are all good. God did
not give his list of “Thou shalt’s” and “Thou shalt not’s” to suck the fun out
of life. They were given to make life
good.

You believe the Commandments are
good when others obey them. You believe
that it is good when your auto mechanic does not lie to you to defraud you out
of your money. It is good that your
wife’s co-worker does not try to seduce her away from you. It is good that your children treat you with
respect and obedience. It is good when
you are not the topic of nasty stories online.
Well, if it is good that others keep the Commandments, it is equally
good that you keep them. The
Commandments call for a good and godly life.
The Commandments are good because the God who has given them is good.

For that reason, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have
come to abolishthe Law or the Prophets.” (Matthew 5:17) Jesus does not come to abolish what is good. The Ten Commandments are God’s will. They will never be nullified, not even in
eternity. Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish them butto
fulfill them. For truly, I say to you,
until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the
Law until all is accomplished. Therefore
whoever relaxesone of the least of these commandments and teaches others to
do the same will be called leastin
the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called
greatin the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19) The
Law of God is good and wise. Whoever
does them is great. Jesus said that he
has come to do them. Jesus does what is
good, and he fulfills the Law.

How about you? Do you keep the
Commandments? Or are you guilty of
trying to relax the requirements of God’s Law?
Yes, we believe that others should treat us as the Commandments dictate,
but we argue for extenuating circumstances that allow us to cheat here and
there. The office gossip deserves to have some stories told about her. A man should be permitted to visit seedy
websites because his spouse is so cold.
Stupid people deserve to be cut down with sarcasm. Or maybe we relax them when they condemn a
family member. “You know, normally I would agree that this is wrong, but my kid means
well. And who are we to judge anyway?”

Listen to Jesus’ words again: “Whoever relaxesone of the least of these commandments and teaches others to
do the same will be called leastin
the kingdom of heaven...” (Matthew 5:19) There is no lower
place for people who tell God that is Commandments are not good, or that those
who break God’s Commandments are good, or that we are still good if we defend people
who break them. Repent.

You are God’s people. You have
been set apart to live as God’s people.
That means that the Ten Commandments matter. They guide your life so that you do not copy
the world in its rebellion against God’s will.
Even after he fulfilled the Commandments, Jesus did not abolish
them. They are still good. They are still Commandments.

Perhaps you think that there is no real difference between Christians
and others. After all, both are capable
of doing nice things for other people.
And that is true. Outwardly,
almost anyone can look good and do good.
That is why Jesus declared: “I
tell you, unless your righteousness exceedsthat
of the scribes and Pharisees, youwill
never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

The Pharisees had their origin some 170 years before Jesus. While many of the Jews had compromised their
faith in order to curry favor with the Greeks, there were a band of Jews who
were determined to remain faithful to God’s Law. These were noble and godly desires. The Pharisees did not allow themselves to become
sloppy in their obedience, either.
Instead, they invented more laws to bolster their efforts in doing God’s
will. They were devout, and they
appeared very moral, very upright, and very obedient. Jesus says that you need to be better than
that.

Jesus said, “Whoever does (these commandments) and
teaches them will be called greatin the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:19)Jesus
is the one who is great, for he does what is good by obeying the
Commandments. Jesus’ obedience was no
mere show. He loved the Lord his God and
obeyed his father with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. His motives were always pure, and his words
and actions were perfect love. Jesus kept
every Commandment and by avoided every evil.
And so God is pleased with Jesus.

More than doing what is good, Jesus does what is good for you.
Jesus’ obedient life was lived as a substitute for you. Jesus makes sure that you have a
righteousness which is greater than the Pharisees’ righteousness. The Pharisees were good and noble in their
outward appearance. Likewise, you will
find many people who don’t care about God can be very generous, patient, and
understanding. They will gain a lot of
praise from a lot of people for their kindness.
But remember how judgment works: “Man
looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel
16:7)

Therefore, Jesus does what is good for you. Jesus has cleansed your very heart. This is what the Lord says: “Baptism
…now saves you, not as a removal
of dirt from the body butas an
appeal to God for a good conscience… (1 Peter 3:21)
Jesus does what is good for you through your baptism. He cleanses your conscience so that you are
not ruled by sin or marked by guilt. The blood of Jesus purifies you of all sin.
(1 John 1:7) It is certain because
Jesus is the one who has supplied the cleansing. You are baptized; therefore, you are forgiven
and you are clean. For as many of you aswere
baptizedinto Christ haveput on Christ. (Galatians 3:27) If you are in Christ, you have the very
righteousness God demands of you. You
are holy and blameless in the sight of God.
Guilt does not cover you; the righteousness of Christ does. Therefore, you have every reason to be
confident of your salvation.

Jesus does what is good for
you. And since you are God’s holy
people, you get to live in joy as God’s holy people. Jesus has cleansed your heart so that good
may flow from it and be seen in words and actions. You get to live according to the Ten
Commandments and to seek the good of others.
You honor those in authority and benefit your community by being honest,
law-abiding citizens. You strengthen
your marriage by honoring your spouse before others, and you strengthen the
marriage of others by encouraging them to be faithful to each other. You prevent the destruction of friendships
and reputations by squashing malicious talk and rebuking careless Facebook
posts. You do these things to love God
and love your neighbor, as the Commandments say. You were set apart for doing these very things. And you do not have to live under the stress
of hoping that you will get it right this week and get better the next
week. For, the Lord has declared that you
are righteous. Through Jesus, God is
pleased with you and, therefore also, your works.

Jesus does what is good for
you. He has given you his Commandments in
order to honor and serve him and your neighbor by them. He has given you a clean heart and a right
spirit so that godly words and works may flow out of them. But mostly, he has given you himself as the
sacrifice which covers your debt and the righteousness with covers your guilt. Jesus has poured his blood upon you in
baptism to cleanse you. He pours his
blood into you in the Supper to strengthen you for godly service and to console
you with godly peace. “God of all power and might, you are the
giver of all that is good.”Jesus seeks nothing but your good, and he
continues to do what is good for you so that you will always remain in his good
graces.

In the name of the Father and of the Son +
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.